Where Is Hamas in UN
Ceasefire Resolution?
(Updated January 2009)
The UN
Security Council has adopted Resolution
1860 calling for a
cease-fire in Israel’s war
with Hamas .
It is a remarkable document that acknowledges
only one party in the conflict and it is
not the one that started the war. While Israel
is mentioned five times in the resolution,
the word “Hamas” shockingly
does not appear once. Well, it would be shocking
to anyone unfamiliar with the UN’s
history.
The resolution talks about
Israeli withdrawal, the humanitarian issues
in Gaza,
and declared that Gaza will be part of a
Palestinian state. Nowhere, however, does
it condemn the more than 450 rockets that
Hamas has fired just since the war began,
let alone the roughly 6,000 it launched at
Israeli civilians in the preceding three
years. In fact, the resolution
makes no mention whatsoever of Israel's right
of self-defense; makes no mention of any
need to return Hamas kidnap-victim and Israeli
soldier Gilad Shalit; condemns “all acts
of terrorism,” which allows Islamic
countries to label Israel’s actions as
terrorism; and places no specific responsibility
on Egypt to stop smuggling through its territory into
Gaza. The resolution also expresses
concern only about the humanitarian
crisis in Gaza. “No concern is expressed
over the humanitarian crisis in Israel that
has forced half a million people into underground
holes for eight years and left Jewish children
growing up with the trauma of fleeing and
hiding throughout their young lives.” (Anne Bayefsky, “Shame
On Bush And Condi,” Forbes, (January
9, 2009).
What is more surprising
is that the Bush
Administration abstained on the resolution
even though it had earlier said it would
not accept such a one-sided resolution, and
a few years ago said it would not support
resolutions that did not explicitly mention
the name of the terrorist organizations responsible
for violence against Israel.
As in the case of the Hizballah
War, the UN has stepped in to prevent
Israel from exercising its legal right, and
moral obligation to defend its citizens.
If Israel prematurely accepts the resolution
it is likely to end this war as it did the
last, with its enemies able to claim victory
and the Hamas leadership
and arsenal sufficiently intact to resume
its terror campaign in the future.
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